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>> This is the 14th largest diamond in the world, displayed Tuesday in New York, referred to as the Peace Diamond, it was discovered in Sierra Leone and is a whopping 709 karats in its uncut form.. It's now being auctioned off by an international diamond trading network called the Rapaport Group which says all profits will go to Sierra Leone.

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>> What's important about this diamond is not just its size and its uniqueness. What's important about this diamond is that it's going to have a material, significant difference in life itself and the quality of life of tens of thousands of some of the poorest people in the world.

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>> A cut of the funds will finance water, electricity, health and education projects in the village where the diamond was discovered in March this year. Diamonds have a dark history in Sierra Leone dating back to a civil war that ended in 2002 and killed 50,000 people. Rebels forced civilians in the east to mine the stones and bought weapons with the proceeds, leading to the term blood diamonds.

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The Sierra Leone government rejected a $7.8 million bid when the rock was first put up for auction in Freetown, saying it was too low. Experts say the Peace Diamond could be worth as much as $50 million and will go under the hammer in New York on December 4th.